Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 25, 2007 20:05:00 GMT 12
Looks like the instructor and student attempted to land downwind. The wind over the top of the South Island this morning was quite strong. The crash aircraft is apparently Cessna 172 ZK-EWD.
Two men had a lucky escape when their light plane crashed while attempting a landing at the Omaka Aerodrome near Blenheim this morning.
Two men, aged 18 and 22, suffered minor injuries in the crash, which happened about 10.30am. They were taken to Wairau Hospital.
St John Ambulance said the 22-year-old man suffered minor leg injuries and the 18 year old suffered minor head injuries.
Two ambulances, five fire appliances from Picton, Renwick and Blenheim attended the scene where the plane crashed.
Sergeant John Butson of Blenheim police said the Cessna was landing in a southeasterly direction on the runway. It failed to come to a stop and clipped a fence between the airfield and the road.
The plane gathered height and crashed some 150m from the end of the runway, he said.
The Civil Aviation Authority had been adviced and would investigate the cause of the crash, Mr Butson said.
Fire appliances from Blenheim, Renwick and Woodbourne attended. A fire appliance and St John Ambulance were also called but were turned back.
Alistair Haigh was one of several Omaka Aero Club members who raced to the crash site with fire extinguishers "expecting the worst".
"We all saw it come in down-wind really really quick and low.
"We saw it might not make it, then it went down and touched the ground before going up again and clipping the fence."
Wreckage of the plane was scattered around where it landed. The nose was pointing down and the tail was wedged on a fence on the edge of a bank overlooking the Taylor River.
Kevin Wilkie of the Omaka Aero Club said as soon as people at the club saw the plane go down, they rushed over with fire extinguishers and first aid kits.
He said both men were already out of the plane, shocked but largely unhurt.
Mr Wilkie said the four-seater Cessna 172 came from Feilding and was registered to Air Manawatu.
He said the pilot and his passenger had been on a training flight and it was quite normal to take an aircraft cross-country as part of that training.
Mr Wilkie could not say what caused the plane to crash.
"He came down and clipped the fence, that's undisputed."
The plane was "written off", he said, but "it was not a tangled mess".
The last similar plane crash he could remember was six or seven years ago, Mr Wilkie said. In that crash, everyone escaped unhurt.
Nobody at the club was shocked at this morning's events, he said, but everyone was talking about the lucky escape the men had.
Former Mt Cook Airlines pilot John Evans, 73, was about to take off in his red, homebuilt plane when he saw the single-engine Cessna coming in to land with the wind behind him instead of in front.
"I heard this guy call final approach so I naturally looked out expecting to see him out there but there was no sign of him," he said, indicating the end of the runway where planes approach to land into the wind.
"He made a mistake obviously and had about 20 knots of wind up his rear end which doesn't do much for your landing distance."
Landing down wind instead of into "makes a lot of difference to your speed across the ground", Mr Evans said.
He radioed the Cessna's pilot saying, "You're coming in down wind" but said the plane came "whistling past" going "far too fast" in the wind.
Mr Evans then radioed the air field's control tower informing them of the plane's plight, which had by this time crashed in the river bed.
He approached the plane with a first aid kit to find the occupants standing on the riverbed.
"They were very lucky boys," he said.
Mr Evans believed the plane's occupants' were a learner and an instructor.
Craig Leov, of Wither Hills, was tending grapes in the nearby vineyards and also saw the whole incident.
"We just saw him come done the runway and thought, Jesus, he's not going to make it.
"I thought he was going to land. He put the power on. He didn't have enough and he clipped the fence, breaking the wire."
The plane then clipped the top of some trees before landing in the Taylor River bed.
"There's just bits of plane everywhere," he said.
A spokesman from Air Manawatu would not comment on the crash this morning.
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4250205a6008.html
Two men had a lucky escape when their light plane crashed while attempting a landing at the Omaka Aerodrome near Blenheim this morning.
Two men, aged 18 and 22, suffered minor injuries in the crash, which happened about 10.30am. They were taken to Wairau Hospital.
St John Ambulance said the 22-year-old man suffered minor leg injuries and the 18 year old suffered minor head injuries.
Two ambulances, five fire appliances from Picton, Renwick and Blenheim attended the scene where the plane crashed.
Sergeant John Butson of Blenheim police said the Cessna was landing in a southeasterly direction on the runway. It failed to come to a stop and clipped a fence between the airfield and the road.
The plane gathered height and crashed some 150m from the end of the runway, he said.
The Civil Aviation Authority had been adviced and would investigate the cause of the crash, Mr Butson said.
Fire appliances from Blenheim, Renwick and Woodbourne attended. A fire appliance and St John Ambulance were also called but were turned back.
Alistair Haigh was one of several Omaka Aero Club members who raced to the crash site with fire extinguishers "expecting the worst".
"We all saw it come in down-wind really really quick and low.
"We saw it might not make it, then it went down and touched the ground before going up again and clipping the fence."
Wreckage of the plane was scattered around where it landed. The nose was pointing down and the tail was wedged on a fence on the edge of a bank overlooking the Taylor River.
Kevin Wilkie of the Omaka Aero Club said as soon as people at the club saw the plane go down, they rushed over with fire extinguishers and first aid kits.
He said both men were already out of the plane, shocked but largely unhurt.
Mr Wilkie said the four-seater Cessna 172 came from Feilding and was registered to Air Manawatu.
He said the pilot and his passenger had been on a training flight and it was quite normal to take an aircraft cross-country as part of that training.
Mr Wilkie could not say what caused the plane to crash.
"He came down and clipped the fence, that's undisputed."
The plane was "written off", he said, but "it was not a tangled mess".
The last similar plane crash he could remember was six or seven years ago, Mr Wilkie said. In that crash, everyone escaped unhurt.
Nobody at the club was shocked at this morning's events, he said, but everyone was talking about the lucky escape the men had.
Former Mt Cook Airlines pilot John Evans, 73, was about to take off in his red, homebuilt plane when he saw the single-engine Cessna coming in to land with the wind behind him instead of in front.
"I heard this guy call final approach so I naturally looked out expecting to see him out there but there was no sign of him," he said, indicating the end of the runway where planes approach to land into the wind.
"He made a mistake obviously and had about 20 knots of wind up his rear end which doesn't do much for your landing distance."
Landing down wind instead of into "makes a lot of difference to your speed across the ground", Mr Evans said.
He radioed the Cessna's pilot saying, "You're coming in down wind" but said the plane came "whistling past" going "far too fast" in the wind.
Mr Evans then radioed the air field's control tower informing them of the plane's plight, which had by this time crashed in the river bed.
He approached the plane with a first aid kit to find the occupants standing on the riverbed.
"They were very lucky boys," he said.
Mr Evans believed the plane's occupants' were a learner and an instructor.
Craig Leov, of Wither Hills, was tending grapes in the nearby vineyards and also saw the whole incident.
"We just saw him come done the runway and thought, Jesus, he's not going to make it.
"I thought he was going to land. He put the power on. He didn't have enough and he clipped the fence, breaking the wire."
The plane then clipped the top of some trees before landing in the Taylor River bed.
"There's just bits of plane everywhere," he said.
A spokesman from Air Manawatu would not comment on the crash this morning.
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4250205a6008.html
